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Media & Events > Industry News > Henry Royce Institute to launch Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub for Greater Manchester17 April 2020
Categories: Sustainable and Smart Packaging
The ability to develop new plastics and recycling infrastructure is also underpinned by an understanding of the behaviours of individuals and businesses that may inhibit innovation adoption. The programme of advise, assessment and innovation will thus incorporate collaborative social science research to help businesses make informed choices to sustainable solutions.
“The Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub provides a platform to work with SMEs across Greater Manchester to help them adopt the right sustainable plastic innovation for the right reasons. We will pioneer solutions that fit with our current and emerging waste management practices and help companies make decisions that are truly sustainable rather than just band-aid interventions.
The investment in the SMIH represents The University of Manchester’s dedication to environmental sustainability. Professor Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research said:
“We are proud to host the Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub in Manchester. Its aims are directly aligned to our environmental sustainability strategy for our research, teaching and how we operate as a social responsible organisation. Using the University’s knowledge and influence we are committed to working with our research partners and other key stakeholders to support the innovation, growth and environmental sustainability of the region’s industrial sector for the benefit of society.”
“The SMIH will be a great asset to Greater Manchester’s response to the imperative of delivering sustainability in the way we embrace the use, management and recycling plastics in a city ecosystem. The interdisciplinary team will bring together scientific, economic and social research effort to help business’s make long lasting innovative solutions, build a circular economy in GM and export the innovation and best practice both nationally and internationally. This will contribute to both local economic growth and expansion of research efforts to find materials solutions to some our most pressing global challenges”.
“This is wonderful news for Greater Manchester’s SMEs working on improving the sustainability of the plastics value-chains. The SMIH’s interdisciplinary approach focussing both on polymer innovation and behaviour change is welcomed by Dsposal who are on a mission to make it easy for everyone to do the right thing with their waste.”
“With excellence in advanced materials at our universities and key industrial sectors such as chemicals, textiles and large food and drink companies such as Kraft-Heinz, McVities, Heineken and Kellogg’s, Greater Manchester is already primed to take advantage of the global sustainable packaging market, due to be worth £309 billion by 2024. The opening of the Henry Royce Institute’s Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub further deepens our commitment to offering companies the opportunity to develop innovative solutions for next generation packaging and be part of city region’s aim of carbon neutrality by 2038.